Product manual

GFI MailEssentials 12 Miscellaneous topics | 242
The Anti-Spam Synchronization Agent works as follows:
1. A server machine hosting GFI MailEssentials is configured as the master server.
2. The other server machines, where GFI MailEssentials is installed, are configured as slave servers.
3. The slave servers upload an archive file, containing settings, to an IIS virtual folder hosted on the
master server via the Microsoft
®
BITS service.
4. When the master server collects all slave servers data, the data is extracted from the individual
archives and merged into a central archive file.
5. The slave servers download this central archive file and take care of extracting it and updating the
local GFI MailEssentials installation to make use of the new settings.
NOTE
The servers that collaborate in the synchronization of settings must all have the same
version of GFI MailEssentials .
NOTE
The files uploaded and downloaded by the synchronization agent are compressed to
limit the traffic on the network.
Step 1: Configuring the Synchronization Agent virtual directory on the master server
Important notes
1. Only one server can be configured as master server at any one time.
2. To configure a server as a master server, it must meet one of the following system specifications:
Microsoft
®
Windows Server 2008 with SP1 or later and IIS 7.0, with BITS server extensions
installed. Refer to: http://go.gfi.com/?pageid=ME_InstallBITS2003
Microsoft
®
Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or later and IIS 6.0, with BITS server extension
installed. Refer to: http://go.gfi.com/?pageid=ME_InstallBITS2008
3. An IIS virtual directory should be created on the master server only.
Virtual directory configuration
In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, configure a shared virtual directory on the default
website of the master server as described below.
IIS 7.0
a. Load the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager console, right click on the default website
and select Add Virtual Directory.
b. In the Add Virtual Directory dialog, key in MESynchAgent as an alias for the virtual directory.
c. Specify a path where to store the contents for this virtual directory and click OK to add the virtual
directory.